Sheriff warns cannabis farmer he faces prison

A Falkirk man with family in Thailand was warned by a sheriff to say goodbye to seeing them for a while after he pleaded guilty to running a cannabis factory.

David Chalmers (40) was caught with 24 cannabis plants in a “well set up” indoor nursery at his home in Skinflats.

Prosecutor Ann Orr told Falkirk Sheriff Court on Wednesday they had a total value of £8000. Chalmers, of Coronation Place, Skinflats, pleaded guilty to producing a controlled drug.

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The plants were discovered in a police raid in August last year. Solicitor Simon Hutchison, defending, said Chalmers suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and a knee injury.

He said: “He was producing the drug to self-medicate.”

When Sheriff Derek Livingston indicated he intended to call for a background report, to include a restriction of liberty order assessment – tagging – in lieu of custody, Mr Hutchison said that Chalmers had “a family in Thailand” whom he needed to be able to visit.

Deferring sentence until March 30 for the report, Sheriff Livingston said: “It may be that from Mr Chalmers’ point of view he can’t go and see his family in Thailand for some time, but that’s just one of the consequences of this sort of thing.”